Wednesday, February 18, 2009

INTEL Vs AMD – The short review

I SUPPOSE YOU COULD SAY we've conducted plenty of CPU reviews in our time, but we just can't bring ourselves to slow things down. The release of Windows Vista and a round of price cuts by AMD prompted us to hatch a devious plan involving Vista, a new test suite full of multithreaded and 64-bit applications, fifteen different CPU configurations, and countless hours of lab testing.

Choosing a processor is an exercise in predicting the future. Given the rapid pace of technology, you'd ideally like a CPU—and the other parts of the system—to last a few years. Choose a CPU that's too new and you end up on the pricey, bleeding edge of the envelope. Choose one that's been around too long and you may find yourself struggling to run new software. Whether you're buying a PC, making an upgrade, or building a new system from scratch, you'll face the same problems.

Intel has been firing on all cylinders while AMD has been playing catch-up. The coming year looks to be more of the same. Both companies are poised to introduce new product lines. Intel is moving forward with a substantially new micro architecture, whereas AMD is just now making the move to the 45nm manufacturing process, which Intel has been using for nearly a year. The smaller architecture allows CPU manufacturers to build processors that use lower power and run at higher clock speeds, as well as cram more transistors on a CPU die.

Still, moving to 45nm should make AMD somewhat more competitive, at least in the midrange and low-end desktop market. AMD's Phenom processor line had some advantage in certain types of servers, particularly those applications that benefit from low latency memory access. Yet Intel's latest CPU, the Core i7 series, may eliminate or reduce those advantages.